The BEST Note Taking App for iPad 2023

The best note taking app for iPad in 2023, GoodNotes vs Notability vs Apple Notes & more!

📲 Apps Tested :

👀 Other iPad videos :

⚡ Featured :

📼 Timestamps :

• 0:00 - Intro and RULES
• 0:43 - Apple Notes is so good now
• 2:20 - CollaNote zooms the best
• 3:56 - I actually like Nebo a lot
• 5:40 - OneNote is just classic
• 6:49 - Thanks, Paperlike!
• 8:01 - Notabilitys interesting update...
• 9:45 - GoodNotes 6 worth it?
• 11:39 - The Winners and Losers!

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• Links provided are affiliated & help support the channel •

#ipadpro #ipados17 #ipadair #notes #notetaking

[tysonpestner]

Am I in the minority of absolutely despising, in fact hating, subscription models? That right there is a personal nonstarter for me on almost any app these days. I do not care how “little” it costs per year. I will make due with lacking features that I can work around if it means I’m using the software Apple already included or an app that I only had to pay for once.

[SteGlitzer]

I like how you are using apple notes. Please do an extra video on it as mentioned! ❤

[Zane_Zaminsky]

Retired college math professor here. I used several (Goodnotes, Apple Notes, OneNote, Notability) in and out of the classroom.

I settled on Notability years ago and continue to use it daily, even in my retirement. It met all of my needs then and still does today. Absolutely love it.

Great video!

[blowry]

With Apple, I’m minimizing every third-party apps and feel extremely great about the workflow it brings. So flawless

[cross]

I used to use mainly Apple notes. The dark mode is perfect, the pen options are wonderful. Just 2 downsides: if you write a lot manually without converting to digital letters, it'll appear cut when you want to export that into pdf (but still acceptable, just move everything down of 2 lines); second, it started to not saving my last edits, sometimes even hours of work! I asked in the apple community and to apple support, but it isn't fixed. So I moved to notability (probably goodnotes has better features but notability's dark mode is way better and that's the most important thing for me)

[ip]

Lovely, thank you. Despite how long the iPad has been around, I'm a relatively new user and still learning from scratch. Note taking is, honestly, the main reason I invested in one.

[nicolebrewer]

Great video! Could you please discuss the transferability of notes from one app to another? I want to switch apps, but I need to know if I can transfer my notes and folders before deleting the old app. Also, will I be able to continue on in a note on the new app. Love your videos and look forward to the next one!

[JasonMonty]

Another great video. Thank you. I completely agree about Apple Notes. It’s really became a powerful note taker if you’re willing to explore some of the more advanced features. Plus the integration with apps such as reminders makes it a great choice for any ‘second brainers’ out there.

Also agree with you about OneNote. The iPad OS / iOS versions are really behind their windows counterparts .

What I’d like to see moving forward though is for Apple to give us an ‘infinite canvas’ similar to OneNote. Perhaps they could, in the future, integrate Freeform with it.

[JeffPom]

I’m a firm believer that with the improvements in the last couple years on Apple Notes, especially this year… That unless you’re looking for something specific, it’s the best. Hashtags, sorting, PDF markup and collaboration, and the ability to link to other apps… it’s absolutely fabulous.

[asarcadyn]

I use Apple Notes as a static information database and live note taker and Goodnotes 6 for ongoing projects.

[andricheli]

Apple Notes is my favorite by a long shot. I tried the others and while they are nice on iPad, some have very cluttered interfaces and don't work well on iPhone. The quick notes feature and ability to easily link notes to one another and in other Apple apps has been a game changer for my productivity.

[piotrk]

I would love to use apple notes but for some reason the battery drain is insane like 25% in one hour on my new iPad Pro the best alternative that doesn’t cost much and the free version really has everything I need is noteful it also is like 6x more energy efficient

[radio_annae]

Thanks for the review!
I still don’t understand how all these apps still lack 2-page spread view (like a book) for pdf. That’s such a simple feature!

[micaiah_smbdy]

GoodNotes’ dark mode really isn’t as bad you made it out to be imo. The point is that you get free rein to pick your style of paper etc. Can you imagine making your notebook and switching to dark mode only for it all to be ruined. They give you the option of black paper and you can change it throughout nitebooking however the color of your writing also has to be changed by the user which is quite as difficult using their lasso tool

[fox_flow]

There actually is a really cool workaround, for having text next to a drawing and the text can even be in color. Notice when you draw in Apple notes it creates a drawing section? You can drag and drop text and images into it from another Apple app like pages or keynote. It will quickly convert the text into an image and let you write in or on it, since it is in that container. Because of that, colored text can be imported from other apps.

[JeffreyBox]

This is a bit tangential, but another concern for those of us in large corporate environments is security. If you're taking notes for work, chances are you're going to be 1) using a corporate device (ipad, computer) and 2) locked into an SSO environment. That likely means you're shackled to OneNote (since o365 still dominates business culture). I wish there was some integration or migration options for Apple notes <--> OneNote. Love your stuff!

[dr.benjaminbird]

Obsidian. Can't recommend it enough. Cross platform syncing. I have it on my Ipad, Android phone, Linux computers and mac. It's mark down text and it's all backed up to my dropbox. Well worth the monthly subscription. I think there's a plugin for apple pencil too although i've not tried it. I write all the README files on my repos in obsidian and then push the document from my vault on dropbox. I've tried apple notes, notability and notion, but cross platform syncing and markdown were musts for me.

[Judy-rkge]

Noteshelf 3 is tops! Great for teaching, journaling, studying and more. They have added a new presentation mode also. You may want to include them in your next “Best Note Taking App for iPad”. Thank you for you video.

[romansone]

I really like Element Note; it’s a newer app that has a more minimal set of features, but the handwriting experience and the options for pens are just lovely! And it’s getting consistently updated still and is only a one-time purchase.

[microMobilidade]

I havent settled on a notes app. I write everything on Bear and draw on a couple different aps. But one thing I really have liked was the pencil case from Moleskine flow. You do not have to adjust tipsize or change colors, you just grab your preset pen from the side (pencil case) that is an amazing thing for speed while note taking